DeLand signs animal contract, OK’s razing structures near Stetson

City commissioners voted to make sure DeLand’s animal control officer will never struggle to find somewhere to place a dangerous or abandoned animal.

By ANTHONY DeFEOanthony.defeo@news-jrnl.com

DELAND — At a busy Monday night meeting, city commissioners voted to make sure DeLand’s animal control officer will never struggle to find somewhere to place a dangerous or abandoned animal, and also decided allow the demolition of four buildings around the Stetson University campus.

Commissioners unanimously signed off on an $85-per-animal contract with the Southeast Volusia Humane Society to accept unwanted animals from DeLand city officials and residents.

After ending a contract — which cost the city as much as $42,000 annually — with Halifax Humane Society in Daytona Beach in 2009, the city opted to take animal control into its own hands and launched the Second Chance Kennel program.

Since the program was established in 2009, animals picked up off of the city’s streets have been housed in a small rented warehouse facility. Its six dog cages and 12 cat cages typically quickly fill up.

The program also doesn’t accept animals surrendered by their owners, nor does it adopt out animals directly to residents, while the Southeast Volusia Humane Society will accept owner surrenders from DeLand residents.

While the city has embarked on building an expanded kennel for the Second Chance program, even a larger facility will still have finite space, city staff say.

City Manager Michael Pleus said the city also works with rescue groups around the area to take animals when they can, but that even they have their limits, meaning the city needs to have an option to fall back on.

Still, city staff plans to continue working first with its own resources and area rescue groups to make sure as few animals as possible end up in the Humane Society and possibly euthanized.

“This is purely a backup plan,” said Pleus. “Our goal has and will continue to be to find forever homes for these animals.”

No members of the public spoke out in favor or against the move.

City officials also heard four requests from Stetson University to demolish four historic structures. Elysha Petschauer, the city’s historic preservation coordinator, recommended against demolishing structures at 203 E. University Ave. and 230 E. Ohio Ave., while she gave the go-ahead to demolish structures at 216 E. University Ave. and 242 E. Ohio Ave.

In the end, the board was moved by arguments from Al Allen, the university’s vice president for facilities management, that the properties Petschauer wanted saved were in poor condition and unusable for the university. The commission voted unanimously to allow demolition of all four properties.

Allen said the university plans to use some of the space for overflow parking as its enrollment continues to grow.